Report problems or contribute information

1
Introduction 2
Message details 3
Upload file 4
Submitted

Help and advice for Magna Britannica et Hibernia

If you have found a problem on this page then please report it on the following form. We will then do our best to fix it. If you are wanting advice then the best place to ask is on the area's specific email lists. All the information that we have is in the web pages, so please do not ask us to supply something that is not there. We are not able to offer a research service.

If you wish to report a problem, or contribute information, then do use the following form to tell us about it.

Magna Britannica et Hibernia

Volume 6: Westmorland

by Thomas Cox (Vicar of Bromfield, Essex) 45 pages, printed in 1731.

p31-33 Lords & Earls of Westmorland; Gentlemen of Note

The Lord and Earls of Westmorland.

Robert de Veteri Ponte, or Vipont, must be reckoned the firstBaron of Westmorland, because King John, Reg. 4. gave him the wholeBailiwick of this County, together with all the Services of those who heldnot by military Service, to hold of the Crown, by the Payment of fourKnights Fees for all Services. His arms were, In a Shield, gules, fixAnnulets, Or. He was succeeded in his Barony by John, his Son, who, 19 Hen.III. answered to the King's Exchequer as Sheriff of this County. Hedeparted this Life 25 Hen. III. and left his Barony to Robert de Vipont, hisSon and Heir. He let all the Lands and Services of this his Barony to JohnFrancigena (or French) for ten Years, at nineteen Marks per Annum; and in 46Hen. III. was one of those Barons, who were summoned to ratify an Agreementbetween that King and his barons; but that not succeeding, he fell in withthe Malecontents, and being slain in the battle of Evesham, his Lands wereseised, and given to Roger Leybourn, who married Idonea, his Sister, andRoger Clifford, who married Isabel the elder Sister, and with her, besidesother Estates, had this Barony. He was called Roger Lord Clifford 2.His Posterity held this Barony some Successions, but as it seems, by a Kindof Usurpation; for Ralph Nevil, Son of Lord Nevil of Raby, being a Person ofgreat Abilities, and on that Account not only employed in many Affairs ofState, but preferred to several Offices of Trust, as Constable of the Towerof London, and one of the Privy council, was 21 Rich. II. advanced to thetitle of the Earl of Westmorland, and as such obtained all those Royaltiesin that County, which justly belonged to the Crown, and had been wrongfullywith-held by the Heirs of Robert de Vipont, to enjoy during his Life. ByMargaret his first Wife he had two Sons, John and Ralph; John marriedElizabeth, Daughter of Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent, but dying before hisFather, left by her Ralph Nevil, his son and Heir, who at his Grandfather'sDeath, became Earl of Westmorland. He, in Right of Elizabeth his Mother,became a Coheir of the Estates of Edmund Holland, Earl of Kent. He marriedElizabeth, the daughter of Henry Lord Piercy, surnamed Hotspur, by whom hehad Issue John, his Son and Heir, who dying without Issue 27 Hen. VI. hisUncle, Sir John Nevil, was his Heir; but he dying also before this Earl,Ralph Nevill, Son of Sir John, his Nephew, was found his Heir, and Successorin his Honour, 2 Rich. III. This Earl was one of the Chief in the Armycommanded by Thomas Earl of Surrey, 9 Hen. VII. which opposed the ScotsInvasion of this Kingdom under James their King; and having caused the Scotsto retreat, ravaged their Borders. He married Margaret, Daughter of SirRoger Booth of Barton, Lancashire, Knt. by whom he had Issue Sir Ralph Nevilhis Son, who died in his Father's Lifetime; but by Editha, the Daughter ofSir William Sands of Hampshire, Knt. left Ralph Nevill, his Son and Heir,who became Earl of Westmorland after his Grandfather. He was one of thoseLords, who 22 Hen. VIII. subscribed the Letter to Pope Clement VII. in whichthey notified to him, That unless he did comply with King Henry in the Causeof his Divorce from Queen Katharine, the Nation would shake off hisSupremacy. He married Katharine, Daughter of Edward Stafford, Duke ofBuckingham, and by her had Issue several Sons and Daughters; of whom HenryNevill succeeded him in his Honour and Estate. He married Jane, the Daughter of Thomas Maners, Earl of Rutland; and dying August 1563, wasburied in the Collegiate Church of Standrope in the Bishoprick of Durham,leaving by the said Jane, Charles, his Son and Heir, who ranking himselfwith the Earl of Northumberland, and other Malecontents of those Times,under a Pretence of restoring the Romish Religion, broke out with them intoopen Rebellion, which the Lord President of the Marches before suspecting,came upon them with sufficient Force, and dispersed them. Some fled intoScotland, the usual Receptacle for English rebels and Malecontents at thatTime; but this Earl not thinking himself safe there, fled into theNetherlands, where he, being harboured by the Spaniards, continued to hisDeath, which happened in an advanced Age. In his Absence he was attaintedby Parliament 13 Eliz. and all his Lands confiscated, so that as he had noSon to inherit, so his Daughters did not enjoy any thing of the Honour orEstate of their Family, but an indelible blot remained on them. These arethe Descendants of Ralph, Earl of Westmorland, by Margaret his first Wife;but his Posterity by Joan, the Daughter of John of Gaunt, his second Wife,were far more numerous and famous; for almost at the same Time, thereflourished of his family by her, Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury; RichardNevil, his Son, Earl of Warwick; William Nevil, Earl of Kent; John Nevill,Marquis of Montacute; John Nevill, Lord Latimer; and Edward Nevill, BaronAbergavenny. Francis Fane, Son and Heir of Sir Thomas Fane of Badfell in theCounty of Kent, Knt. by Mary his wife, only Daughter and Heir of Sir HenryNevill, Knt. Lord Abergevenny (afterwards created Baroness Despenser) havingbeen made Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of King James I. was createdby that Prince, Reg. 22. Baron Berghersh, and Earl of Westmorland, afterthat Honour had lay dormant near fifty Years. He married Mary, the Daughterand Heir of Anthony Mildmay of Apethorp in Northamptonshire, Knt. by whom hehad seven Sons; of whom Mildmay Fane, his Eldest inherited this Honour. Hewas made Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of King Charles I. He marriedto his first Wife, Grace, Daughter to Sir William Thornihurst of Kent, Knt.by whom he had Issue Charles, and to his second Wife Mary, Daughter ofHorace Lord Vere of Tilbury, by whom, he had Issue a Son named Vere Fane,who was made Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of King Charles II. ThisEarl died in 1663, and Charles his eldest Son succeeded him. He marriedsuccessively two Wives, but leaving no Issue by them, his Half-Brother, thena Knight of the Bath, Vere Fane, became Earl of Westmorland: He marriedRachel, the only Daughter and Heir of John Bence, Alderman of London, bywhom he had four Sons; of whom Vere Fane the Eldest, succeeded him, and diedunmarried in 1699, six Weeks after he came of Age, and so the Honourdevolved to his next Brother Thomas, who thereupon became Earl ofWestmorland. He married Katharine, the only Daughter and Heir of CharlesStringer of Charlton in the County of York, Esq; but we do not understandthat he hath as yet any Child. He is the present Earl, in 1727.

SIR Edward Bellingham, Knt. Gentlemen of the Privy chamber to King Edw. VI.who sent him over in 1547, to be Deputy of Ireland, as a Person well fittedfor so great a Place by his Learning, Wisdom and Valour. He enlarged theEnglish Pale, which had not gained one Foot of ground from King Edw. III.'sDays, by subduing the two most rebellious Sects of the Irish, the O-moresand O-Connors; and to secure his new Acquisitions he built two Forts at Leixand Offaly; and had he not been suddenly recalled into England, he wouldhave settled Plantations of English in their Room, as the Earl of Sussex hisSuccessor did. He by Surprize took the Earl of Desmond, an unnurturedNobleman of the Irish, and bringing him up to Dublin, so informed andreformed him, that he knew how to behave himself like a Man in his Station,which he was ever after so sensible of, that at every dinner and supper heprayed to GOD for good Sir Edward Bellingham. Being arrived in England, hisAdversaries accused him of many Faults, but he cleared himself of them sofully, that he had been sent into Ireland again, had he not pleaded hisbodily Indispositions, and died soon after. O-Connor and O-more werebrought into England, and had a Pension of an hundred Pounds a Year allowedthem, but lived not long to enjoy it. Richard Mulcaster, educated at Eaton School, and from thenceremoved to Kings College in Cambridge, but before he was a Graduate, went toOxford, where shewing a great Proficiency in Learning , he was chosen thefirst Master of Merchant-Taylors school, which prospering much under hisCare, he was removed to St. Paul's School. He was a meer Orbilius, sparingnone that were Faulty, which was the better born, because he was impartial,and made many excellent Scholars, of which Bishop Andrews was one. Havingspent almost all his Life in the wearisome Employ of a School-master, heretired from it, and having got to the rich Parsonage of Stanford Rivers inEssex, there spent the rest of his Days in teaching Women and Men, in whichit is said he had not so good a Knack as in educating Boys. He died in theMiddle of Queen Elizabeth's Reign. Robert Langton, Doctor of Laws, who beside his generous Charityto the Town of Appleby in contributing to the building of the School withDr. Spenser, he was a great Benefactor to Queens College, Oxford, the Placeof his Education, for he built the outward Chapel, as it now standeth, Anno1618, and two Years after paved the eastern Part with Marble, and plaisteredit in the Inside, Anno 1631. Again he glazed the Windows new, and adornedthem with several Pictures, among which are his Arms, which are a Rebus, aTon of an unusual Length, for the northern People pronounce long, lang. Helies buried in the inner Chapel, which he built.